When you're a relatively unknown band trying to cut your teeth in the metal-and-hardcore scene, an air-conditioned tour bus is the sort of lavish convenience you've got to work your way up to. Luckily for Tucson, Arizona, metalcore band the Bled -- who'll release their second album, the Mark Trombino-produced Found in the Flood, on August 23 -- they've graduated from RV rentals and cramped vans, good news considering the band's fall includes a U.S. tour with Underoath and Thrice.

But James Muñoz, who handles "all things vocal," according to the band's press materials, will miss those rough-going early days -- if only for the laughs they'd produced.

"Last summer, we rented this RV, and we just wrecked it," the vocalist said, guffawing as he recalled the destruction. "The guy we rented it from was pissed and wanted $10,000 from us, and we somehow squirmed our way out of that one. Our old bass player sucked at driving, but always insisted on driving, and crashed into a parked semi and hit cars on multiple occasions. The RV was brand new when we got it, and the generator was shot and the side had a huge gash when we were finished with it."

The Bled have a knack for pissing people off. Take the band's debut, 2003's Pass the Flask, which incensed NASCAR fans thanks to the track "Dale Earnhardt's Seatbelt." The song, with lyrics like, "We'll scrape the guardrail from our teeth and start again," was later renamed "You Know Who's Seatbelt."

"For a while, when we just had the promo samplers, we sent it out to some college radio stations who would play it in the South somewhere, and these redneck dudes started calling in, going, 'What the f--- is this sh--?' " Muñoz said. "Some people got stoked on it too, because they thought it was a tribute. But we didn't want to get in legal trouble, with the trademark on the name and whatever. But also, we would have had dudes with Confederate-flag tattoos on their foreheads trying to kill us."

The rest of the week's metal news:

According to Fear Factory frontman Burton C. Bell the Gigantour has been treating them just "OK." The techno-driven metal band's been performing around 6 p.m. each night, but Bell finds "85 percent of the people at these shows are Megadeth and Dream Theater fans, and maybe 15 percent Fear Factory fans." But the small contingent of Factory followers seems to be digging the group's new songs, which will be released in the form of Transgression on August 23 through Calvin Records. "On this record, we decided to actually get a producer who has some weight in this industry, Toby Wright (Metallica, Alice in Chains)," he explained. "We've never worked with a producer of that caliber, and this is the first time I've ever worked with a producer, at least this intently, with the vocal tracks. This record's sonically better than anything we've done in the past." Gigantour runs through September 11 in Portland, Oregon. ...

A host of underground icons will join forces for the Melvins tribute album, We Reach: The Music of the Melvins, which comes out August 23. The disc will include collaborations between High on Fire and Keelhaul, Isis and Agoraphobic Nosebleed and CKY and Gnarkill. Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon and Eyehategod have also contributed tracks. ... Iron Maiden will be inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk on August 19 at 7:30 p.m. August 20 marks the band's final Ozzfest date, after which they will play headlining spots on the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the U.K. on August 26 and 28. Two days later, Maiden will release the double live album Death on the Road, which was filmed at various stops on the band's 2003 tour. A triple DVD of the same tour will follow soon after. ...

Thrash titans Unearth embark on a U.S. club tour on September 16 in Erie, Pennsylvania; Nora and A Life Once Lost will open the first two dates of the 21-city trek, with Zao and Dillinger Escape Plan taking over support duties for the remainder of the run, which concludes October 8 in Rochester, New York. ... Finnish classical-metal band Stratovarius will launch their North American tour September 27 in Atlanta at the ProgPower USA festival. Additional dates with Into Eternity are scheduled through October 10 in Los Angeles. ...

Anthrax will release their double-disc anthology, Anthrology: No Hit Wonders (1985-1991) and their latest concert album, Alive 2, on September 20. Both are currently available for pre-order on the band's official Web site, www.anthrax.com. Anthrax will replace Dream Theater for the last five dates of Gigantour, beginning September 6 in Edmonton, Alberta, and ending September 11 in Portland, Oregon. ... A DVD of an early Samhain performance, "Samhain Live 1984 at the Stardust Ballroom," will be released on September 13. The disc was filmed on November 21, 1984, at the band's first Los Angeles show and includes "Macabre," "The Shift," "The Howl," "I Am Misery" and "Halloween II." Frontman Glenn Danzig played with Samhain between the breakup of the Misfits and the formation of his current band, Danzig. ...

The Fury of the Fall Tour, featuring Meshuggah, God Forbid, the Haunted and Mnemic, will kick off on October 4 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and run until at least October 31 in Santa Ana, California; more dates are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. ... British prog rockers Porcupine Tree's American tour launches September 23 in Tampa, Florida. The band will hit a total of 20 cities, including Boston, New York, Detroit and Los Angeles before wrapping things up on October 23 in Anaheim, California. Guitarist Robert Fripp will open on most of the tour's dates. ...

Norwegian party rockers Turbonegro will launch a tour in Baltimore on October 7. Dates are scheduled through October 21 in Seattle. The (International) Noise Conspiracy and Early Man will open all shows. Turbonegro will be on the road to support their latest album, Party Animals, out August 23. ... Beantown hardcore kings Diecast will be hitting the road with 3 Inches of Blood and If Hope Dies starting August 31 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently confirmed dates run through September 11 in Seattle, but more tour stops are expected to be added in the next few weeks. ...

Belgium gorecore band Aborted will launch their first U.S. tour on September 28 in Farmingdale, New York. The tour ends November 7 in New York. Suffocation, Cryptopsy and Despised Icon will play all dates, while Cattle Decapitation, With Passion, Vader and Decapitated will perform at select shows.